Chapter 88: No Way Out
Natalie froze in her spot, her eyes wide, tears welling at the corners as the weight of Avery’s words hit her. She tried to blink them away, but the turmoil etched across her face made Avery regret bringing up the past. She shouldn’t have said anything. Not now. Not when Natalie was already going through a shit.
"Is... Is he sick, Mom?" Emily’s voice broke the silence in the room. The girl who had been fuming moments earlier now seemed small, her bravado replaced with uncertainty. Her eyes darted nervously between her mother and Avery, seeking answers in the space where there were none.
Natalie’s head snapped up, her eyes wide with a mix of panic and desperation. "No!" she answered too quickly, her denial sharp and brittle. The word lingered in the air, false and hollow. She tried to catch herself, her fingers trembling as she wrapped her arms around her body, as if to shield herself from the truth.
"He’s... he’s fine," she continued, her voice softer, but no more convincing. "They just—" She paused, her breath hitching. "They just don’t want to live here anymore," she finished, her voice cracking under the weight of the lie.
Avery narrowed her eyes, suspicion growing. "But what about the company?" she questioned. "And the estate? Dominic would leave all that behind?" It didn’t make sense. Dominic had never been one to walk away from responsibility, especially not Sabrina’s family legacy. Perhaps he wanted to stay with his father, Fredrick Rigory, a reputed Judge in Aracamia, who had divorced Sabrina decades ago. But something about this didn’t sit right.
Natalie’s lips trembled, the guilt weighing down her every movement. She shook her head as if the denial alone could somehow erase the truth. But it was written all over her face, in the way her body trembled as though she carried a burden too heavy to bear. Her voice was thin, fragile. "He just wants to be with his father," she lied, trying to convince herself more than anyone else.
Emily, whose defiance had only moments before filled the room, now seemed lost, her world tilting on its axis. Panic flashed across her features, and her voice rose in desperation. "He can’t leave us! He just can’t!" She reached out, grabbing her mother’s hand, tugging it with a force born out of fear. "Mom, let’s go! We can make him stay. We just have to talk to him. He wouldn’t leave us like this!"
Natalie closed her eyes, her body trembling as the first tear slid down her cheek. She understood Emily’s desperation. She felt the same crushing fear, the same suffocating dread of losing him. But this time, there was no solution. No amount of pleading or talking could stop what was coming. Dominic seemed to have made his choice from the way he felt last night.
Evelyn stepped forward, her voice calm but unyielding. "Even if you convince him to stay, Emily... will you ever be able to make him happy?"